U.S. farm industry groups want President-elect Donald Trump to spare their sector from his promise of mass deportations, which could upend a food supply chain heavily dependent on immigrants in the United States illegally.
So far Trump officials have not committed to any exemptions, according to interviews with farm and worker groups and Trump’s incoming “border czar” Tom Homan.
Nearly half of the nation’s approximately 2 million farm workers lack legal status, according to the departments of Labor and Agriculture, as well as many dairy and meatpacking workers.
It’s not the suppression of wages as much as it is an effective tax break for the poor achieved through hiring undocumented immigrants and paying cash. By not withholding taxes, the workers are effectively being paid 30%+ more for their labor.
The solution, once again, it to tax the wealthy more to provide relief to everyone else.